Posts tagged Study

Half of consumers are using their phones to help make shopping decisions, suggesting that old-style feature phones have a place in the market, according to a new survey.

The report, by Arc Worldwide, based on a survey of 1,800 U.S. mobile phone users and a smaller qualitative study with 30 mobile shoppers, shows 50% of consumers are using their mobile devices while shopping. Since the smartphone penetration rate in the U.S. hasn’t yet hit 50% that means that many consumers are using feature phones. In fact, such shoppers are the majority — 80% of those users are consulting their feature phones for purchases.

William Rosen, president and CEO of Arc, puts shoppers in two groups — heavy and light users. The former tend to be wedded to their phones and love experimenting with new apps. The latter view their cellphones as an inferior, on-the-go version of their computer. While many marketers are focusing on the former, Molly Garris, digital strategist at Arc, says that light users will remain the majority for some time. She suggests the best way to address the market right now is via multi-tiered campaigns aimed at users with smartphones and feature phones. Garris says Sephora is a good example of such a marketer; the brand has in-store displays directing shoppers to m.sephora.com, which can be accessed with a feature phone, but Sephora also has a barcode-reading app for those with smartphones.

Otherwise, the report also finds that what is becoming a considered purchase has been redefined. “What’s casual is now more considered,” says Rosen,”and what’s considered is more casual.” For instance, shoppers are finding that bringing their phone with them helps them research big, considered purchases like cars on the fly, but phones can also add a layer of complexity to simple purchases, like coffee. “Nothing more casual than buying a cup of coffee,” says Rosen. “But now Starbucks is using it to broadcast your location and pay for coffee.”

San Francisco – Global smartphone sales will soar 50 per cent this year compared to 2010, with Google’s Android set to extend its lead as the world’s most popular operating system for the devices, according to a study released Tuesday by research group IDC.

The study estimated that the number of smartphones in use this year will reach roughly 450 million, some 147 million more than in 2010.

Devices running Google’s Android OS will dominate with a 39.5-per- cent market share, rising to 45.4 per cent by 2015. Apple’s iOS devices will decline slightly from 15.7 per cent this year to 15.3 per cent in 2015.

Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 will gain the benefits of an alliance with Nokia to jump from a market share of just 5.5 per cent this year to 20.9 per cent in 2015, making it the number two mobile OS in the world after Android, the study predicted.

Most of that gain will come at the expense of Nokia’s Symbian OS, which is predicted to go from 20.9 per cent to just 0.2 per cent in 2015. Blackberry’s share will decline from 14.9 per cent in 2011 to 13.7 per cent by mid-decade.

‘Overall market growth in 2010 was exceptional,’ said Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. ‘Last year’s high market growth was due in part to pent-up demand from a challenging 2009, when many buyers held off on mobile phone purchases. The expected market growth for 2011, while still notable, will taper off somewhat from what we saw in 2010.’

Wearing Phone on Belt Linked to Decreased Bone Mineral Density in the Hip

Newswise — Philadelphia, Pa. (March 24, 2011) – Electromagnetic radiation from cellular phones may adversely affect bone strength, suggests a study in the March Journal of Craniofacial Surgery. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

Men who routinely wear their cell phone on their belt on the right side have reduced bone mineral content (BMC) and bone mineral density (BMD) in the right hip, according to the study by Dr. Fernando D. Sravi of National University of Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina. He writes, “The different patterns of right-left asymmetry in femoral bone mineral found in mobile cell phone users and nonusers are consistent with a nonthermal effect of electromagnetic radiofrequency waves not previously described.”

Carrying Cell Phone on Belt Linked to Lower Hip Bone Density Dr. Sravi measured BMC and BMD at the left and right hip in two groups of healthy men: 24 men who did not use cell phones and 24 men who carried their cell phone in a belt pouch, on the right side, for at least one year. Measured using a test called dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry, BMC and BMD are standard markers of bone strength.

Average hip BMC and BMD measurements were not significantly different between groups. However, men who did not use cell phones had higher BMC in the right femoral neck (near the top of the thigh bone): a normal left-right difference that was absent in cell phone users. Thus men who wore their cell phones on the right side had a relative reduction in femoral neck BMC in that hip.

The cell phone users also had reduced BMD and BMC at the right trochanter—an area at the outside top of the thigh bone, close to where the phone would be worn on the belt. The difference between the left and right trochanters was significantly related to the estimated total hours spent carrying a cell phone.

There are concerns about several potential harmful effects of cellular phones. However, few studies have looked at whether electromagnetic fields emitted by cell phones could affect bone mineralization. With the rapid growth in cell phone use, any significant effect on BMD could have a substantial effect on the osteoporosis rate in the population.

Although small, the new study raises the possibility that long-term exposure to electromagnetic radiation from cell phones could adversely affect bone mineralization. Larger follow-up studies will be needed to confirm or disprove this hypothesis, according to Dr Sravi. He suggests that studies may be warranted in women, who have higher rates of osteoporosis; and children, who would have longer expected lifetime exposure to cell phones.

About The Journal of Craniofacial SurgeryUnder the leadership of Editor-in-Chief Mutaz B. Habal, MD, FRCSC, The Journal of Craniofacial Surgery (www.jcraniofacialsurgery.com) serves as a forum of communication for all those involved in craniofacial and maxillofacial surgery. Coverage ranges from practical aspects of craniofacial surgery to the basic science that underlies surgical practice. Affiliates include 14 major specialty societies around the world, including the American Association of Pediatric Plastic Surgeons, the American Academy of Pediatrics Section of Pediatric Plastic Surgery, the American Society of Craniofacial Surgeons, the American Society of Maxillofacial Surgeons, the Argentine Society of Plastic Surgery Section of Pediatric Plastic Surgery, the Asian Pacific Craniofacial Association, the Association of Military Plastic Surgeons of the U.S., the Brazilian Society of Craniofacial Surgeons, the European Society of Craniofacial Surgery, the International Society of Craniofacial Surgery, the Japanese Society of Craniofacial Surgery, the Korean Society of Craniofacial Surgery, the Thai Cleft and Craniofacial Association, and the World Craniofacial Foundation.

About Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (LWW) is a leading international publisher for healthcare professionals and students with nearly 300 periodicals and 1,500 books in more than 100 disciplines publishing under the LWW brand, as well as content-based sites and online corporate and customer services.

LWW is part of Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading provider of information and business intelligence for students, professionals and institutions in medicine, nursing, allied health and pharmacy. Major brands include traditional publishers of medical and drug reference tools, journals, and textbooks, such as Lippincott Williams & Wilkins and ; and electronic information providers, such as Ovid®, UpToDate®, Medi-Span®, Facts & Comparisons®, and ProVation® Medical.

Wolters Kluwer Health is part of Wolters Kluwer, a market-leading global information services company focused on professionals with annual revenues (2009) of €3.4 billion ($4.8 billion), approximately 19,300 employees worldwide and operations in over 40 countries across Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. Visit our website, YouTube or follow @Wolters_Kluwer on Twitter for more information about our market positions, customers, brands and organization.

According to studies done by J.D. Power and Associates, social media seems to be paramount regarding consumer satisfaction with their mobile device, whether it’s a smartphone or a traditional handset.

The studies found that device satisfaction averages 22 points higher among smartphone owners who use their phone to engage in social media platforms (such as Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare) than those who do not access social media platforms via mobile. In fact, over half of current smartphone owners claim they use their phone to access social media sites via mobile web or apps. On the other hand, feature phone owners obviously visit social media sites much less frequently than smartphone owners. However, the study found that a feature phone owner that actively engages in social media will find his/her device more satisfactory than the owner of the same phone, who just happens to be a less social breed of butterfly.

“It’s not unexpected that smartphone owners access social media sites from their device more frequently than traditional mobile phone owners due to features such as larger screens and QWERTY keyboards,” said Kirk Parsons, senior director of wireless services at J.D. Power and Associates. “However, these findings demonstrate that equipping devices with powerful features and service is key to creating positive customer experiences with wireless devices.” With technology blossoming at an unparalleled rate, the demand for social media-centric and capable devices can only grow from here.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Older adults may put themselves at risk by talking on cell phones while crossing the street, researchers report in a new study.

IMAGE: University of Illinois Beckman Institute director Art Kramer led a study that found that older adults have more difficulty than their young peers negotiating a traffic crossing while also talking…

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The researchers found that adults aged 59 to 81 took significantly longer than college students to cross a simulated street while talking on a mobile phone, and their heightened cautiousness in initiating crossing did nothing to improve their safety. Older adults on cell phones also were more likely to fail to cross in the time allotted for the task.

The findings, from researchers at the University of Illinois, appear in the journal Psychology and Aging.

In the study, 18 undergraduate students (aged 18 to 26 years) and 18 older adults crossed simulated streets of varying difficulty while either undistracted, listening to music or conversing on a hands-free cell phone. The older adults were significantly impaired on the most challenging street-crossing tasks while also engaged in a second activity, with the most pronounced impairment occurring during cell phone conversations. The younger adults showed no impairment on dual-task performance, the researchers found.

IMAGE: Postdoctoral researcher and study co-author Mark Neider demonstrates the simulated street scene and multi-directional treadmill used in the study.

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“It should be noted that we have previously found that younger adults show similar performance decrements, but under much more challenging crossing conditions,” said lead author Mark Neider, a postdoctoral researcher who conducted the study with Illinois psychology professor and Beckman Institute director Art Kramer.

“Combined with our previous work, the current findings suggest that while all pedestrians should exercise caution when attempting to cross a street while conversing on a cell phone, older adults should be particularly careful,” Neider said

A new survey from casual gaming company PopCap shows that an incredibly high percentage of adults in the UK and U.S. is into mobile gaming.

This stat may be due in part to the uptick in smartphone adoption. According to a separate Nielsen survey, 31% of U.S. mobile users now own smartphones, and a Pew survey shows nearly half of cellphone users download and use mobile apps, too.

In PopCap‘s research, more than half (52%) of 2,425 respondents said they had played a game on a mobile device, whether their own device or someone else’s, at some time in the past. The percentage for UK respondents was significantly higher (73%) than the rate for U.S. respondents (44%).

Around one-third of all respondents had played a game on their own mobile phones within the past month, and one out of four respondents said they played games on a weekly basis. Still, some respondents admitted to only having played a mobile game once.

The biggest gaming group was smartphone users. A full 83% of smartphone-owning respondents said they had played at least one mobile game in the past week, putting them solidly in the “avid mobile gamer” category.

Interestingly, the male-to-female ratio in mobile gaming doesn’t show the pronounced gender gap seen in console and PC gaming. Men play slightly more than women by a slim margin of 2-10%. This fits pretty well with the current picture we have of the social gaming scene as a predominantly female market.

And mobile gamers aren’t just biding their time on mass transit; they’re also contributing to the bottom line of game manufacturers across the major mobile platforms. Around half of all mobile gamers in this survey said they had upgraded a free trial game to the full or paid version in the past year. And one out of four mobile gamers, or one out of three smartphone gamers, said they had bought “additional content” for a game within the past year.

Also, smartphone users are more likely to buy games than their feature phone-owning counterparts, for obvious reasons. The average smartphone-using mobile gamer bought 5.4 games in 2010, versus the 2.9 games bought by non-smartphone-owning gamers. Also, the smartphone crowd said they spent more money on games — $25.57 per user for the year, compared to $15.70 from feature phone owners.

(FOX Business) – If that person next to you on the train, gabbing away on her cell phone while typing away on her laptop, seems to be getting louder and more irritating — you are not alone, FOX Business reported Monday.

Mobile manners in America are getting worse, according to a study.

A recent survey of 2,000 Americans conducted by Intel Corporation (INTC) and Ipsos found that 75 percent of respondents feel phone manners are worse now than they were a year earlier, and 91 percent report seeing someone “misuse” their cell phone in the past year.

The top pet peeves reported were using mobile devices while driving (73 percent), talking on a cell phone loudly in public places (65 percent), and using a cell phone while walking on the street (28 percent).

Intel spokesperson Jessica Hansen said cell phone etiquette is often a gray area due to how people perceive their own manners. Nearly all of the respondents (92 percent) said they felt they had good technology etiquette.

Nearly all of the respondents, a shocking 91 percent, said they have seen someone use a cell phone in a taboo place, such as while driving (56 percent), in a public restroom (48 percent), in a movie theater (32 percent), and on their honeymoon (nine percent).

Even more disturbing, 24 percent of respondents said they had seen someone using a laptop while driving.

Poor etiquette by mobile users is rampant and getting worse every day as use of smartphones and other wireless devices continues to mushroom, according to an Ipsos survey of U.S. adults.

The survey found that 75% of the 2,000 adults surveyed believe mobile manners have worsened since 2009. And more than 90% said they have witnessed first-hand poor mobile behavior — activities ranging from texting while driving or walking to talking on a mobile phone in a public restroom.

Some 19% of the repondents admitted having poor mobile habits themselves, but continued such activities because others were doing the same thing.

The survey, sponsored by Intel, was conducted from Dec. 10, 2010 to Jan. 5, 2011.

Intel, which makes processors that are used in some mobile devices, said the survey is part of its research into how people use technology to drive innovation. The company sponsored a similar survey in 2009.

Genevieve Bell, an Intel fellow who heads up research into human interactions and experience at Intel Labs, noted that because mobile technology is still fairly new, “it’s no surprise that people still struggle with how to best integrate these devices into their lives.

“New digital technologies are becoming a mainstay in consumers’ lives, but we haven’t yet worked out for ourselves, our families, communities and societies what all the right kinds of behaviors and expectations will be,” Bell added. The survey also found that:

U.S. adults see an average of five mobile “offenses,” including the use of mobile devices while driving or talking loudly on a mobile phone in public, every day.

One in five adults admit to checking a mobile device before getting out of bed in the morning.

Of the 91% of respondents who reported seeing offenses, 56% saw car drivers using a mobile device, 48% saw people using one in a restroom, 32% saw them used in movie theaters and 9% saw the devices used by people on a honeymoon.

Nearly 25% of U.S. adults say they have seen a person use a laptop computer while driving.

The survey relates to a theme raised by some communications executives at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona recently.

On one panel there, executives cited how smartphones and similar devices can constantly interrupt our lives , keeping our attention on the devices instead of on friends, family and co-workers.

“We’re starting to live in a world of interruption technology — isn’t anybody questioning this?” said MWC panelist Hampus Jakobsson, director of strategic alliances at BlackBerry smartphone maker Research in Motion. He is the former head of TAT, an interface design company acquired by RIM last year.

In response to a question on how RIM might reduce interruptions, Jakobsson suggested BlackBerry devices perhaps shouldn’t run games that demand close attention from users.

Panelist and AT&T CTO John Donovan added that mobile devices have become the “serial interrupters” of modern society. “We owe it to the industry to restore simplicity where interactions and productivity are balanced,” he added.

Elsewhere, Microsoft picked up on the theme of bad phone behaviors in a series of TV ads for its Windows Phone 7 devices.

The commercials lament the way typical smartphones can prevent people from engaging directly with others, and suggesting that the interface on WP7-based phones will allow tasks to be completed swiftly and thus let users more quickly get back to communicating directly with families and co-workers.

An Intel spokeswoman said the is not looking to prescribe a right or wrong way to use mobile technology by releasing the results of the survey. “We want to understand how people use and want to use their technology. It’s an important part of our future product planning process,” said spokeswoman Jessica Hansen.

She said Intel isn’t aware of an industry group devoted to mobile technology etiquette despite the comments made at MWC and the Microsoft ads.

Intel, however, did quote tips from etiquette expert Anna Post.

In general, Post suggests that mobile users “be present … [and] give your full attention to those you are with … in a meeting or on a date.”

Post also suggests that users stop and consider whether it would be best to postpone a call or to move away from others when talking, texting or e-mailing from a mobile device. She also suggests talking with family, friends and co-workers about setting ground rules for mobile device use.

Finally, Post said she believes that some places, such as restrooms, are private and should remain free of mobile device use.

Matt Hamblen covers mobile and wireless, smartphones and other handhelds, and wireless networking for Computerworld. Follow Matt on Twitter at @matthamblen , or subscribe to Matt’s RSS feed . His e-mail address is mhamblen@computerworld.com .

Read more about mobile and wireless in Computerworld’s Mobile and Wireless Topic Center.

Spending 50 minutes with a cell phone plastered to your ear is enough to change brain cell activity in the part of the brain closest to the antenna.

But whether that causes any harm is not clear, scientists at the National Institutes of Health said on Tuesday, adding that the study will likely not settle recurring concerns of a link between cell phones and brain cancer.

“What we showed is glucose metabolism (a sign of brain activity) increases in the brain in people who were exposed to a cell phone in the area closet to the antenna,” said Dr. Nora Volkow of the NIH, whose study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study was meant to examine how the brain reacts to electromagnetic fields caused by wireless phone signals.

Volkow said she was surprised that the weak electromagnetic radiation from cell phones could affect brain activity, but she said the findings do not shed any light on whether cell phones cause cancer.

“This study does not in any way indicate that. What the study does is to show the human brain is sensitive to electromagnetic radiation from cell phone exposures.”

Use of the devices has increased dramatically since they were introduced in the early-to-mid 1980s, with about 5 billion mobile phones now in use worldwide.

Some studies have linked cell phone exposure to an increased risk of brain cancers, but a large study by the World Health Organization was inconclusive.

Volkow’s team studied 47 people who had brain scans while a cell phone was turned on for 50 minutes and another while the phone was turned off.

While there was no overall change in brain metabolism, they found a 7 percent increase in brain metabolism in the region closest to the cell phone antenna when the phone was on.

Experts said the results were intriguing, but urged that they be interpreted with caution.

“Although the biological significance, if any, of increased glucose metabolism from acute cell phone exposure is unknown, the results warrant further investigation,” Henry Lai of the University of Washington, Seattle, and Dr. Lennart Hardell of University Hospital in Orebro, Sweden, wrote in a commentary in JAMA.

“Much has to be done to further investigate and understand these effects,” they wrote.

Professor Patrick Haggard of University College London said the results were interesting since the study suggests a direct effect of cell phone signals on brain function.

But he said much larger fluctuations in brain metabolic rate can occur naturally, such as when a person is thinking.

“If further studies confirm that mobile phone signals do have direct effects on brain metabolism, then it will be important to investigate whether such effects have implications for health,” he said.

John Walls, a spokesman for CTIA-The Wireless Association, an industry group, said the scientific evidence so far “has overwhelmingly indicated that wireless devices, within the limits established by the FCC (Federal Communications Commission), do not pose a public health risk or cause any adverse health effects.”

Volkow said her the findings suggest the need for more study to see if cell phones have a negative effect on brain cells.

Meanwhile, Volkow isn’t taking any chances. She now uses an ear phone instead of placing a cell phone next to her ear.

A new study from the National Institutes of Health suggests that using cell phones can change the way our brains behave, though it remains unclear whether these changes can be harmful.

The study, published yesterday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that just 50 minutes of cell phone use can noticeably speed up brain activity in the region closest to the phone’s antenna. While overall brain metabolism didn’t change when exposed to wireless radiation, activity in the area next to the antenna spiked by 7-percent. Dr. Nora Volkow, who led the study, told Reuters that the findings are significant because they demonstrate that even weak radiation from cell phones can alter the brain’s metabolism. But she added that it’s still too early to tell whether or not cell phones pose a tangible neurological risk, emphasizing that the results do “not in any way indicate that” cell phones can cause cancer.

Preliminary as its results may be, Volkow’s study has been met with keen interest from many in the health community — including Louis Slein, editor of a newsletter called Microwave News, which focuses on the effects that electromagnetic radiation can have on our health. “It’s a high-quality team, well regarded, and if nothing else they’re showing that radiation is doing something in the brain,” Slein told the New York Times. “The dogma in the cellphone community says that it doesn’t do anything. What she’s shown is that it does do something, and the next thing to find out is what it’s doing and whether it’s causing harm.”

There are already a few theories about the long-term effects these changes could have. Some worry that artificially stimulated brain metabolism could create molecules called free radicals, which can often destroy healthy brain cells. Others have speculated that persistent exposure to electromagnetic radiation could trigger some sort of inflammatory reaction, which has been associated with cancer.

Thus far, however, most studies have been unable to find conclusive evidence linking cell phones to cancer — something that the mobile industry is eager to point out. “The peer-reviewed scientific evidence has overwhelmingly indicated that wireless devices, within the limits established by the FCC, do not pose a public health risk or cause any adverse health effects,” said John Walls, vice president of industry trade group CTIA – The Wireless Association. Until the medical community arrives at a hard consensus, though, Volkow says she’ll continue wearing an earpiece when she talks on the phone: “I don’t say there is any risk, but in case there is, why not?”